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Fire! Ready. Aim.  The Real Reason for JCPS' "Perception Problem"

5/7/2016

2 Comments

 
In the wake of JCPS releasing an "Equity" report saying that its employees, including its teachers, are overpaid, JCPS is now backing away from it and won't be presenting it at the May 10, 2016 meeting.  

According to WLKY:  

​
Spokesperson Allison Martin said the recommendation came from a community committee, not JCPS, even though multiple district representatives and a cabinet member sit on that committee.
She said the superintendent hasn't endorsed the plan, and has excluded it from next week's board meeting.
“Because union negotiations open up in the summertime -- anyway, late spring, early summer, every year. And, so it will be part of the normal negotiation process,” Martin said.
Martin said JCPS believes its teachers are well-compensated, but said the district will have committees looking at administrators salaries.
The district could ask the board to approve a freeze since administrators don't have contracts, unlike all other employee groups.
So a study commissioned by JCPS, as well as a "community" team given their marching orders by JCPS, make recommendations at a meeting scheduled by JCPS, but Dr. Hargens comes out several days after the plan is presented to humongous community outcry to say she doesn't endorse it.

Just in case Allison Martin and Dr. Hargens need a refresher, they should check page 3 of their Salary Study to see who was a part of that community committee. I'll help them. Emphasis is mine.

• Tiffeny Armour, Director of Human Resources, JCPS
• Roger Cude, Senior VP of Human Resources, Humana
• Attorney Mark Fenzel, Middleton Reutlinger
• Dr. Rita Greer, former Director of Human Resources, JCPS
• Chuck Haddaway, Board Member, JCPS
• Cordelia Hardin, CFO, JCPS

• Donna Hargens, Superintendent, JCPS
• Dr. Blake Haselton, Superintendent in Residence, U of L
• Tom Hudson, CBO, JCPS
• Allison Martin, Chief Communications and Community Relations Officer JCPS
• Angie Moorin – Finance Work Group Member
• Tom Quick, VP of Human Resources, General Electric Appliances
• Attorney Jim Smith, Smith and Smith Attorneys

So we have four members of Dr. Hargens' staff, INCLUDING Allison Martin, as well as Dr. Hargens herself, but this didn't come from JCPS.

As a communications person, shouldn't Allison Martin have some sense of a) how the initial presentation would be received, b) how a complete lack of immediate response by Dr. Hargens would be received, c) how Tom Hudson's comments about how the community should be outraged would be received, and d) that saying Dr. Hargens didn't "endorse" a plan she and her staff (including Martin) oversaw and drafted would come across as ludicrous?

If Dr. Hargens didn't support it, why did she allow it to appear in front of the board? Is her method of management to throw up trial balloons to see how the community will react and then respond accordingly? Does she have no idea how the community, teacher, parents, and students feel?

It is time for the JCPS Board of Education to make a stand and call out Dr. Hargens for this nonsense. She said back in December that JCPS had a "perception problem". Instead of pointing her finger at the media or twitter like she did back then, maybe she should point that finger back at herself and realize that the actions she takes (or doesn't take), as well as the timeliness of her responses to community feedback have actual consequences and drive that public perception.

I hope teachers, parents, students, and the community are out in force May 10th to express their disapproval.

​
2 Comments
Sharon Mc Donogh
5/7/2016 08:27:36 am

Dr. Hargens has the perception problem. Her perception of the Metro Louisville Community is that we are all uneducated idiots, who she can fool with smoke and mirrors. All she ever does is throw things out there, trying to mask her real goals. She has no concept of what happens at the school level, since she only visits schools when the media is present. Her leadership is non-existent. It's time for her to go!!!!!!

Reply
Joan Cole
5/7/2016 09:51:47 am

Once upon a time the media highlighted JCPS students for their personal achievements as well as their schools' successes. Now our student population can be seen as shooters during the Derby Parade and at schools, robbers during attempted break-ins and purse snatchers, drug dealers, and other disruptive behaviors. JCPS decision makers need to realize that too many of our students value street teachers and these teachers of street learning know the value of student engagement. JCPS district leaders, time and circumstances have passed you by. Each person who walks into a school each day does not experience the goodness that I experienced during my tenure as a teacher. To many school families have to endure the good, the bad, and ugly. And now the District leaders are continuing to nurture a school district culture of the bad and ugly. Thanks for my leaders for my once upon a time in JCPS. A teacher day does not begin and end when the school doors open and close.

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    I created the Louisville BEAT to help JCPS parents become more informed and involved in the school system.  You can contact me here. 

    I am a parent of a student at duPont Manual High School. 

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